{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,18]],"date-time":"2026-04-18T03:26:42Z","timestamp":1776482802659,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,16]],"date-time":"2023-02-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1676505600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008530","name":"European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["21874"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21874"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008530","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Lignin is a polyphenolic biopolymer present in large amounts in black liquor (BL). This work investigated the recovery of lignin from BL (pre-filtered by ultrafiltration (UF)) by nanofiltration (NF). For the NF tests, laboratory-made mixed matrix membrane (MMM) prepared with 0.1% activated carbon (AC) nanoparticles were used in crossflow filtration mode. The effect of pressure (6\u201315 bar) and volume reduction (VR) (~65%) were analyzed, and the filtration performance was evaluated in terms of permeate flux, lignin rejection rate, and flux reduction. The lignin rejection rate varied in the range of 67\u201380% with the pressure, however, the highest increases in flux and rejection were observed at 12 bar, which was found to be the optimum pressure. At a VR of ~65%, the permeate flux decreased by ~55% and the lignin rejection rate increased from 78% to 86%. In addition, an economic evaluation was performed for the preparation of UF and NF MMM. The minimum-to-maximum price range was estimated considering the costs of the laboratory and commercial grade regents. It showed a difference of ~10-fold and ~14-fold for UF and NF membranes, respectively. The results of the laboratory-scale study were used to evaluate the economic feasibility of the process for recovering lignin- and hemicellulose-rich retentate streams.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes13020237","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,17]],"date-time":"2023-02-17T01:32:56Z","timestamp":1676597576000},"page":"237","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Lignin Recovery from Black Liquor Using Integrated UF\/NF Processes and Economic Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9917-1146","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manorma","family":"Sharma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Coimbra, CIEPQPF, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Polo II, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8943-8329","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patr\u00edcia","family":"Alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Coimbra, CIEPQPF, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Polo II, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0739-1238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lic\u00ednio","family":"Gando-Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Coimbra, CIEPQPF, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Polo II, Rua S\u00edlvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4351","DOI":"10.1007\/s11696-022-02181-5","article-title":"Multiple Linear Regression to Predict the Brightness of Waste Fibres Mixtures before Bleaching","volume":"76","author":"Tofani","year":"2022","journal-title":"Chem. 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